MEN'S BASKETBALL: Mount St. Mary's upsets Bryant, 84-70

Friday

Feb 15, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Mount St. Mary's junior guard Sam Prescott enoyed a record-setting night at Knott Arena, but, maybe even more importantly, the Mountaineers remained in the hunt for a berth in the upcoming Northeast Conference tournament after defeating conference-leading Bryant, 84-70.

By Lee Goodwin

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Mount St. Mary's junior guard Sam Prescott enjoyed a record-setting night at Knott Arena, but, maybe even more importantly, the Mountaineers remained in the hunt for a berth in the upcoming Northeast Conference tournament after defeating conference-leading Bryant, 84-70.The loss takes a little of the sting from the Mount's 79-78 overtime loss in Smithfield, R.I. on Jan. 17.What Prescott did last night was simply remarkable. He also made history. Not since the Mount moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89 has a Mountaineer player scored 44 points. He also set a record for most points by a Mount player at Knott Arena, which opened in 1987.Prescott is just the fourth Mount player to score 44 or more points in a game in program history (104 years), joining Jack Sullivan (seven times), Dave Maloney and Mike Tate. The last Mountaineer to score 44 points was Tate on Nov. 24, 1987.Prescott, who averages 24.1 minutes a game and 9.2 points a game, played 33 minutes and finished nearly 35 points better than his average. He started along with incumbent NEC Rookie of the Week Shivaughn Wiggins, Rashad Whack, Julian Norfleet and Raven Barber as the Mount used a four-guard lineup. Barber was the only forward.Prescott, who scored 28 first-half points, was 16 for 24 from the field, including 10 for 14 from the 3-point arc. He was also a co-leader in rebounds with six.Kelvin Parker, who along with Prescott had six rebounds, scored 19 points off the bench to give the Mountaineers a spark. Parker was good on 5 of 7 three-point shots. As a team, the Mount made 17 threes, finishing with a 51.5 percentage from 3-point range. The Mountaineers were 28 for 55 (50.9 percent) from inside the three-point line.The win moves the Mount's conference record to 6-7, tied with St. Francis Brooklyn for eighth with five games to play. The top eight teams qualify for the conference tournament. Mount St. Mary's is a half-game behind its next opponent (Central Connectictut) and a game and a half behind Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart (both 7-5).

Slow start, fast finish

Prescott showed signs of a big night when he scored the first three field goals for the Mount, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at nine with 16:26 remaining in the first half.Meanwhile, the Mountaineers (11-13) were having a hard time keeping the Bulldogs (16-7, 9-3 NEC) out of the paint. In the first 5:02 of the game, Bryant outscored Mount St. Mary's 10-4 in the paint and 4-0 in second chance points.The equalizer, as it turned out, was the long range shots. Trailing 13-9, Parker made the first of his five trifectas. Just over a minute later, Prescott made his second trey to cut the Bulldogs' led to 16-15 with 13:03 left in the first half.Bryant got a three of its own to go up 19-15, but Prescott calmly answered with yet another 3-pointer at the 12:14 mark. After a miss at the other end, the Mount's Taylor Danaher made a layup to give the home team its first lead of the game, 20-19. Bryant's Alex Francis, who scored eight points in the first 9:27 of the game, made his fourth layup of the game to give the lead back to the Bulldogs, 21-20.But the Prescott-Parker Show was just getting started. Prescott made his third non-three pointer of the game to give the Mountaineers what proved to be a lead they wouldn't lose. It also ignited an 11-0 run to give propel Mount St. Mary's to a 42-28 lead at halftime.Bryant cut the lead to 31-26 but couldn't get any closer as Prescott delivered with a layup after a key steal by Parker with 3:59 left. The Mount seized upon the newly-gained momentum by scoring 11 of the final 13 points of the half.In the second half, the Bulldogs tried to mount another rally and did cut the deficit to 48-42 with a strong start. But, once again, Prescott helped the cause when he made a three-pointer to make it 51-42. It was 51-44 when Parker made a conventional three-point play to stretch the lead to 10 points.Leading 54-47 with 14:19 remaining in the game, the Mount went on a 17-5 run, culminating in a three-pointer by Norfleet with 8:19 left.Certainly not lost in the stat sheet is the Mount's penchant for ball control. The Mountaineers committed only six turnovers, compared to 15 by the Bulldogs. The Mount also had 22 assists, far outnumbering Bryant (nine assists). Mount St. Mary's also won despite being outrebounded 37-25.Next: Mount St. Mary's continues its four-game homestand at 11:30 a.m. Saturday against Central Connecticut. The game will be televised on MASN.

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